I have an Epihone Les Paul Custom. Would these pick-ups GFS professional Series Alnico II Humbucker Zebra Case Bridge Pickup, be better than the stock Epiphone pick-ups? I am would really like some S-D or Dimarzio, but have a hard time justifing the money on an ""Epiphone""

I have an Epihone Les Paul Custom. Would these pick-ups GFS professional Series Alnico II Humbucker Zebra Case Bridge Pickup, be better than the stock Epiphone pick-ups? I am would really like some S-D or Dimarzio, but have a hard time justifing the money on an ""Epiphone""

Well I have not tried the GFS pro series Alnico II's, but as an owner of an Epiphone L.P., I wouldn't hesitate to install the best pickups I could find !!

I think Epiphone's are great guitars. The one I have is equal to my Gibson L.P, . . . just different.
I've got 9 x guitars currently, and love them all for different reasons. Not all of them are "Top Brand/Name" guitars, but none the less enjoyed and valued by me.

An epi owner and member here just installed the GFS AII's into his LP, along with 50's wiring, about a month ago and did some demo clips of it. It sounded very good to me. You might try to dig up that thread. It was in the Epi forum.

I, myself, just went to 50's wiring and I've got a set of the GFS Classic 59 Alnico V's on the way.

I was thinking about just spending the money on some Dimarzio Air classics, but after what you guys have said....I will give the GFS a try. Also...I already have it re-wired '50 style with a kit from Jonesy

Please post a review once you get them - there hasn't been alot written about these.

I've had mixed results with GFS pickups. Some were acceptable but not to my taste (Tele rails); others were just horrible, unusable (minihumbuckers) - but there's still other's I'm interested in trying (the pro a2's and mean 90s)

No need to justify putting more expensive pickups in an Epiphone....put whatever you can afford in that guitar! GFS would be fine sounding I'm sure....but save a bit more and there are some SERIOUS good options out there. Many of which can be found in the Business/Vendor Classified section or Member Classified.

Watch some of the Dave Stephens design videos where he compares his pickups with PAF's. In many of those videos he's using an Epiphone Les Paul loaded with PAF's....and it sounds DAMN good to me.

I believe this to be an older Made in Korea Epiphone Les Paul...loaded with '62 PAF's....what do you think? Those VL's sound great too....

I de-waxed both humbuckers from my Epi SH400 (which I sold off with Häussels in it) and the neck pickup sounds pretty decent now (57 classic) while the bridge pickup sounds a tad to muddy. (HOT CH or something like that)

If this thread from TDPRI is correct the new gfs pro series humbuckers are made by G&B, who makes pickups for some lower prs's and companies like raven west. Made in Korea and/or Indonesia, so possible a step up from the MIC rebranded Artec stuff that makes up most of the gfs line.

I just put a set of GFS Professional V alinco in my MIJ Epiphone. I had upgraded the electronics but still had the stock pickups and just could not stand the bridge pickup any longer. I got a lot of feedback from the bridge and I mean a lot. I have used GFS before in another epi les paul but they were the regular classic alinco II and I wasn't impressed. While installing them I made a stupid mistake and cut my bridge pickup wires about 3/4" to short and had to splice the lead. After they were installed, I fired them up for the first time and they are dead quiet. They are more quiet than my classic with very little feed back, I have to crank the gain to get feedback. I didn't like them the first day I played them but having moved around to some of my different amps I have changed my mind. I started to notice how clear they are with some of my 5 watt heads as they a not high output pickups but really a lot cleaner than anything else I have had in the past.
Do I think they are some of the best pickups I have ever heard, no. I think for the price they are however a good set of pickups. I am not the greatest player on the face of the earth and I think these will be as good as I will ever be.

When you hear a guitar being played. There isn't anyway to tell what type of pickup it is. You could take a WAG at it and guess the manufacture correctly, but the exact model that will be slim.

So what makes a "good" pickup? Just because it has an establish name behind it? So you are telling me that a Chinese* winder winding in China isn't as good as a Chinese winder windng at Seymour Duncan?

*Disclaimer - Just using Chinese as an example as majority of the people think that if you live in China everyone in that country no matter what they do will make a poor quality product. It's kind of like saying everyone in the Southern States of America is in the KKK.

I was thinking about just spending the money on some Dimarzio Air classics, but after what you guys have said....I will give the GFS a try. Also...I already have it re-wired '50 style with a kit from Jonesy

the air classics are in a league of their own, they are amazing PAF types! I would never choose GFS over those

Depends... I got a set of the GFS '59's in an Agile I recently bought and the neck pickup was yuck while the bridge pickup was great. I replaced the neck with a Duncan SH-1N and it's the perfect marriage.

Hating the neck pickup is weird for me as I've typically found that 'anything goes' there, but the bridge is usually where I struggle to find perfection.

Hi, i'm an owner of a Gibson LP 50's tribute with humbuckers for about a month now. I never liked the stock pickups especially the 498t. The 490r is ok but i would prefer something more clean. I used to play them in the middle position where i could get a decent sound. I play mostly led zep songs.

I replaced the bridge pickup with a GFS Alnico II pro bridge humbucker and here it is how it sounds:

I have installed the GFS professional series Alnico II bucker in the neck position of a Tele custom w/500k pots & .22 p&oil caps it sounds just fine, well balanced and articulate. $40ish delivered..

I have an epi LP in which I installed burstbucker pros. Paid $135 for the set. Honestly I like the overall sound of the Epi better than the tele. That is likely the result of equal influence between guitar and pickup..

I have bought 5 or 6 different GFS pickups in the last couple of years...
Here's what I've found..

Buying GFS pickups, pots, caps etc and taking the time to sit down with a YouTube video, a soldering iron, and a guitar has been a complete game changer for me.. When I started, the whole idea of wrenching on my own Gtr's was a complete mystery. Now, I am not afraid of anything.. I can fix, change, tweak just about any problem with any guitar. All of my guitars are now set up very well (by my own hand.)

Two times I was not happy with the GFS pups installed. Both times I pulled the pups out, listed them on eBay and recouped every dollar I originally spent...

So, I would say "go for it" with even the slightest mechanical inclination you will benefit by attempting Gtr mods on your own.. GFS offers u the opportunity to do so without going broke.. If nothing else, you can recoup your $$ if u want out...

Epi's are good guitars with subpar hardware IMHO. From the pots all the way to the bridge.

That being said with about $200 into buying the hardware, pickups, a fret level, and a good setup; I have an Epi LP that I would put up against almost any Standard Gibson. After the upgrades it was better than any studio I'd ever touched and just a few notches below my R9. I did give it to my son after I got my '59 replica, but still these are great guitars that will do well with a good pickup.

I haven't tried GFS pickups, but I've only read good things about them for the price. I wouldn't hesitate in upgrading the stock Epi PUP's to GFS. However, if you have the 57CH and the HOTCH set in it, just swap the magnets out for UOA5's and take a hair dryer to them to get some of the wax out and and you will notice a world of difference. They're actually not bad pickups after you work on them a little.

If you don't like them after that, I'd look for some used Duncans or the 36th Anniversary Dimarzio's.

If you don't like them after that, I'd look for some used Duncans or the 36th Anniversary Dimarzio's.

-That's why I swapped the stock p'ups out for a set of DiMarzio Virtual PAFs. These DiMarzios are killer. Although I did replace the neck V. PAF with a GFS Mean 90 to get more of a single coil tone, I'd pop the DiMarzio back in no questions asked. I think the 36th Anniversaries are the replacements for my older Virtual PAF set. Classic Lester tones in spades right there...